Live from City Hall

Don Hill says he is giving 45 minutes to each side of the FD debate, which may be impossible. When he asked who was here to speak, everyone raised hands. Lill and Finkelman are going last, but Larry Duncan is up now: “This is where I came in 30 years…

Live from City Hall

Jim and I have decided Laura is on a Southwest flight to Vegas, cause she sure as hell ain’t here. One thing I did notice as Bill Blaydes was bemoaning the yay vote regarding the homeless shelter (“It will destroy the southeast corridor!”): He’s kinda…unhinged. –Robert Wilonsky…

City Hall Live

Uh…as Jim just asked, “Where the hell is Laura?” The FD debate is about to start, and she ain’t here. –Robert Wilonsky…

Let’s Just Call These City Hall Live

The chamber is packed with Angela Hunt fans–if nothing else, their bright green “CPC YES” and “PEOPLE’S PLAN” stickers suggest they also want the version of Forward Dallas! containing the Plan Commission’s alterations. Not yet to the discussion yet, and room is getting warm and restless. –Robert Wilonsky…

More Live from City Hall

Veletta Lill’s back amongst the council, patting backs and doling out hugs. Still talking Deep Ellum–Lazerz, specifically, and its late-night crowd. Uh, where’s the mayor? –Robert Wilonsky…

Eyewitness News

Observer blogmeister Robert Wilonsky is bravely putting his sanity on the line–and online–to blog live from City Hall as the council debates the ForwardDallas! master plan. He’s paying attention so you don’t have to. Take it away, Bobby W.: City council chambers are stuffed–if they charged admission, they could pay…

Blog This Fest

With the giant music festivals of summer upon us, music bloggers across the land have been typing the skin right off their fingertips, hoping to document all the things (the bands, the bizarre weather, the hippies) that make events like Sasquatch, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza so memorable. Obviously, anyone with a…

The South Beach Diet

That wasn’t Thundershower Alberto chugging through south Florida last night; that was the Karma Train. And, after the city of Dallas inexplicably unveiled its plans for a victory parade a week prematurely, it ran right over the Dallas Mavericks. Well, that and a combination of pathetic Mavs’ play and brilliant…

Hunting Party

Is it weird I have made this picture my new desktop wallpaper? Here’s an odd discovery: a city councilmember who calls you back, who’s well informed on the subject at hand, who doesn’t speak in the hyperbole of someone trying to deflect the issue and who actually calls you back…

Wading into Rough Waters

Looks like Dwyane Wade did not forget his balls last night. What, you didn’t think your Dallas Mavericks were going to sweep the Miami Heat; who are you, anyway, Tim Cowlishaw? And weren’t you getting just a little bored with this series? Wasn’t that the kind of game you wanted…

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive a Check for Fraud

Last month, Unfair Park brought you the latest “Yokel Fleeced in Dallas” tale. In this installment, the victim was Temple Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas. As an Arkansas paper explains, Dallas travel agency Pride Travel, Inc. apparently stole $30,000 the church sent in February to pay for a missionary trip…

Forward Dallas! Or Stuck Dallas?

Should Forward Dallas! pass, the city of the future could look a lot like the city of the past. But in a good way, right? Wednesday ought to be one hell of a day at City Hall: Not only is the city council scheduled to vote on Forward Dallas!, the…

Valdez Can Take the Test. But Can She Pass It?

Well, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez has belatedly qualified to take the mandatory licensing test she flunked in April. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards tells us the sheriff has at last provided the proper documentation she needs to take the test, corroborating that she was a federal…

Giveaway City

Good Friend of Fair Park Sharon Boyd has this to say about Dallas’ attempts to beg 20th Century Fox here to shoot the big-screen Dallas by promising millions in giveaways…pardon, incentives: “Does any business pay their own way anymore? I wish we had a city ordinance prohibiting City Hall from…

It’s the American Way

More good new for American Airline and parent company AMR Corp.: On the eve of an announced settlement between Dallas and Fort Worth’s mayors regarding the Wright Amendment–a press conference is announced for tomorrow, as well as a city council thumbs-up concerning the deal–Standard & Poor’s gives the airline the…

It’s All About Perspective

So maybe you will see some John Travolta around Dallas after all. This morning’s Dallas Morning News boasts a front page “exclusive”: Dallas, the movie version of the prime-time soap, will be shot in Dallas after all. OK, not all of it–just four weeks’ worth out of the three months…

Parading Around The Arrogance

Look, we all know our Dallas Mavericks are gonna win the NBA Finals. But that doesn’t mean the series is over just yet. The Mavs are up 2-0 heading into tonight’s Game 3, where the Miami Heat will almost certainly ride desperation to a big early lead. They call it…

Hurricane Harbor

Who needs coffee when there’s this to greet you first thing in the morning: “Mavs-Heat isn’t must-see TV,” blares the headline from the San Francisco Chronicle, where columnist Gwen Knapp says Sunday offered much better sports viewing than Game 2 of the NBA Finals. You know what was better than…

Havin’ a Ball. Kind Of.

Don’t read this if you’re going to watch the rebroadcast of the U.S.-Czech Republic World Cup match tonight. On second thought, do read it, because I’ve got a piece of advice: Don’t bother. We were terrible. In 2002, the U.S. made up for inferior individual skills with relentless pressure and…

Allowance Don’t Cover This, Boys

From left: Chris Mavor, Andrew Hamilton and Sam Murchison made it to the AAC last night the old-fashioned way. They earned a thousand bucks in a week. This afternoon The Dallas Morning News posted a short piece to its Web site about three 11-year-old boys who raised more than $1,000…

Cuban to Buy New York

OK, maybe not. But the Dallas Mavericks’ billionaire owner Mark Cuban will surely make a big splash when he makes his first appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night. The Mavs might be up 3-0 by then. If so, watch out. It’ll be a newsmaker. –Richie Whitt…

Cell Hell

A San Francisco company called Telephia (which, oddly, was my stripper name in the late ’70s) says it’s the world leader in providing “performance measurement information” to the mobile communications business; I believe ’em, only because I don’t know why you’d want to make that up. Anyway, Telephia today released…